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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23625079">The Schoolboy (Olivier's Story)</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/gay_possum_god/pseuds/gay_possum_god'>gay_possum_god</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Girl in the Blue Coat - Monica Hesse</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Amsterdam, Canon Compliant, College, Friends to Lovers, Historical, Internalized Homophobia, M/M, Roommates, Slow Burn, alternate perspective, i'll keep adding characters as they pop up</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 08:33:49</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,121</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23625079</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/gay_possum_god/pseuds/gay_possum_god</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Ollie's perspective of the events of the war, Girl in the Blue Coat timeline, and afterwards.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Olivier Van de Kamp/Willem (Girl in the Blue Coat)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The Schoolboy (Olivier's Story)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>The title is a Van Gogh painting.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>March supposedly came in like a lion and went out like a lamb, but it was nearly the end of the month, and Ollie and Judith could still hear the last snow drifts crunching under the sole’s of their boots. Their noses and ears still turned pink from being out too long, and they still wrapped themselves in jackets and scarves.</p><p>“You should have run south to America when you had the chance,” Judith joked as she ended up ankle deep in a puddle of slush.</p><p>“I would miss Amsterdam too much,” Ollie said, and it was true. Even with the freedom his new adulthood had brought him, Ollie had chosen to stay in his home city because he couldn’t imagine living anywhere else. It was also true that he probably should have taken that chance while he still had it.</p><p>“Well I also miss Amsterdam, and I’m living here,” Judith replied bitterly. She had reason to be bitter. Ollie did too, but Judith didn’t know that.</p><p>When the front tire of Ollie’s bike rolled through a more melted sludge puddle it splashed water and mud back onto his pant leg. The wet fabric clung to his leg uncomfortably. He shivered. If he took too much longer getting back to his dorm, the fabric would start to freeze against his skin.</p><p>“You don’t have to walk with me,” Judith said.</p><p>
  <i>Yes I do.</i>
</p><p>“No really it’s fine. I’d probably just slide around on the ice if I tried to ride.” This clearly wasn’t true since there were many students riding back from classes around them, but Judith accepted his answer.</p><p>They walked past an SS man standing at a corner. The Germans were everywhere now. Even watching on university campuses as students walked home. He nodded at them and smiled. Judith and Ollie nodded back, but neither smiled. As soon as she was sure the SS man was out of earshot Judith said, “I just want my city back.”</p><p>Judith was Ollie’s only college friend who had also grown up in Amsterdam, and it came up in their conversations frequently.</p><p>“Me too,” Ollie said.</p><p>In the ten months since the occupation began, the city had grown quieter. Part of it was the enforced curfew. Part was the knowledge that they were being watched. That every conversation was listened to. Some stayed quiet out of fear. The Lamberts protected themselves in silence. The Van de Kamps shed silent tears of grief. The entire country mourned, but their loss was personal.</p><p>Maybe the city was quiet because Bas no longer lived in it. Ollie’s life was definitely quieter without Bas in it. His parent’s life was quieter. Bas’s girlfriend’s life. And the lives of everyone in their year at school. <i>How many people can the death of one touch? And how many more are going to die before the war ends?</i></p><p>Ollie used to like quiet. But he didn’t like this kind of quiet. He only liked the kind of quiet that came with peace and contentment and nothing more needing to be said. If Amsterdam could only be quiet out of fear, Ollie wanted it to be loud again.</p><p>“It’s not the same,” Judith said. “Your home is just changing; mine is being taken away!”</p><p>Ollie knew it wasn’t the same. He could still go out in the evenings and join clubs. If an SS man stopped Ollie at a corner, he could give an excuse and be on his way. But in some ways, they were more similar than Judith knew.</p><p>They passed shops with signs in the window reading “no jews allowed”. Ollie didn’t know how they planned on enforcing that rule, but he knew they would probably come up with something soon. They were already trying to measure noses, it was only a matter of time before they got more serious, or other people took them more seriously.</p><p>Judith walked closer to Ollie to allow the passing pedestrians to have extra space. More space than any of them truly needed. Ollie suspected the extra space was for Judith’s sake. It was not easy being an outcast in one’s own home. He wished he could protect her, but Ollie had never been in a fight in his life and doubted he could ever win one. He stood at just an inch below average height, wore thick glasses, and spent most of his time bent over a desk or a thick book. Still, he wanted Judith to know he was there for her, so he stood up straighter and looked passerbys in the eye.</p><p>Finally, they made it to Judith’s dorm. Having been deemed the fairer sex and therfore more fragile, the women’s dormitories all had better heating systems than the men’s. Just seeing classmates standing inside without jackets on made Ollie jealous. Every window glowed orange with warmth.</p><p>“Good night, Judith,” he said, “see you tomorrow.”</p><p>Just before she could reply two of her housemates walked up, also on their way home for the evening. “Oh, Judith,” one of them said, “is that your date walking you to the door?” The other one giggled.</p><p>“If he was my date, he would have let me ride on the front of his bicycle,” Judith answered. Ollie cursed himself for not thinking of that earlier. It would have been much faster.</p><p>“Goodnight Ollie,” Judith called to him before stepping inside with her housemates who were still giggling.</p><p>Ollie swung his leg over his bike and took off in the direction of his own dorm. He was so distracted he barely noticed more slush splattering up onto his pant legs and freezing onto his skin. Should he have thought of that? Wouldn’t most men his age? Wouldn’t most men in his position make a move on Judith. But the rules said he shouldn’t date a jewish girl, so that could be his excuse. Except the rules also said he shouldn’t be such close friends with a jewish girl that he walked her home at night either.</p><p>Ollie pulled the handbrake as he got to the front of his dorm. The wheels stopped turning, but he skid over the icy bricks. He put his left foot down to try and stop himself. He felt his foot slide and both he and his bicycle learned at a dangerous angle, but then he stopped. He could feel the snow sliding down the top of his boot and drenching his sock. He stepped off his bike and set it on the rack before stepping inside.</p><p>Unlike Judith, Ollie kept his coat on in the hallway. It was warmer than outside, but not by much. Not until he stepped into the room he shared with Willem, was Ollie warm enough to take off his coat.</p><p>“Well look what the cat dragged in,” Willem said, looking at Ollie from his desk with a slight smirk. “I was beginning to think I would have the place to myself for the night.”</p><p>Ollie was suddenly very aware of the way his clothes were sticking to his body and the fact that his hair was drenched. He hoped he wasn’t blushing. </p><p>“Judith forgot her bike, so I walked her back to her dorm after calculus.”</p><p>“What a gentleman. Why didn’t you just let her ride on the front of your bike?”</p><p>“I didn’t think of that,” Ollie replied. He was beginning to wonder if that really had been the obvious answer to everyone but him. He yanked off his boots and then pulled his wet socks afterward. His toes were all pink.He began walking over to the radiator to lay his socks next to them to dry, but Willem reached out and caught his sleeve first. He pulled Ollie toward him just a bit and then let go.</p><p>“Here,” he said, and plucked Ollie’s glasses off his face. </p><p>Ollie only managed to get out, “Hey!” before his glasses were returned to his nose, but now with smudges and droplets of water wiped off. Ollie hadn't even noticed they were dirty.</p><p>“Better?” Willem asked.</p><p>
  <i>You know they are.</i>
</p><p>“A little. I’d like to change.”</p><p>“Of course. Why don’t you take a warm shower, and I’ll put your clothes on the radiator.”</p><p>“Thank you,” Ollie said. He grabbed his shower bag and a dry set of clothes and walked to the door. Willem followed. Ollie opened the door and stepped out. Willem stepped out after him.</p><p>“Where are you going?” Ollie asked.</p><p>“To the shower. I said I’d put your clothes on the radiator.”</p><p>“But how will you get my clothes if they’re in the shower with me?” Ollie hoped his face wasn’t as red as he suspected it was.</p><p>“You can just pass them out to me,” Willem said as if it was the obvious answer. It probably should be.</p><p>“Of course.”</p><p>They walked the rest of the way to the shower in silence.</p><p>They weren’t the first there, but they were early. Only about half of the shower stalls were full. Ollie walked to the one at the end for no reason other than the false sense of privacy a wall promised.</p><p>He entered and pulled the curtain shut behind him. He still felt too exposed. Taking off his clothes with Willem standing just a few feet away with only a curtain between them felt indecent. Even back in their room, Ollie always changed in the bathroom or when Willem was out. Willem didn’t bother, but he didn’t have anything to worry about. Or he had more to worry about, depending on how you looked at it.</p><p>Ollie started to peel his clothes off of his body. He took off his shirt first to give his pants more time to thaw. His entire chest was immediately covered in goosebumps. He felt embarrassingly exposed for someone still wearing clothes. He passed out his damp shirt to Willem trying to move the shower curtain as little as possible. Willem’s fingers brushed his and his hand felt hot. Ollie felt his face burn, and was grateful Willem couldn’t see him blushing over such a small amount of physical contact.</p><p>Taking his pants off after that felt dirty, but not taking his pants off meant explaining why, so he took a deep breath and pulled his pants off his legs. The ice had mostly thawed, but it still hurt a bit. He put his pants on the floor and slid them out under the curtain. Any contact with Willem when he was naked would be too much.</p><p>Ollie didn’t have the mental fortitude to make himself take a cold shower after freezing his toes off all the way back from class, so he waited until he could hear the shower room door close behind Willem and turned the water on hot. Long after he regained feeling in his toes, he stayed in so long that they began to turn pink again. Not wanting to hog all the hot water, Ollie stepped out. While he had been in, the sun had set and a line had formed for the showers.</p><p>Stepping back into their room, Ollie could see his clothes hanging on a makeshift clothes line above the radiator. Willem’s clothes were on a pile next to his bed, and he was curled up underneath the covers, snoring lightly and still holding his biology textbook. His dark curls scrunched up around his face like a cloud, and his mouth hung just a bit open. The collar of his shirt was just slightly askew and Ollie could see the birth mark on his right collar bone.</p><p>Ollie didn’t have the energy left tonight to feel guilty about watching Willem sleep. He very carefully walked over and lifted the book from Willem’s hands. Willem stirred momentarily, and Ollie paused. <i>Will this look weird if he wakes up? I'm leaning over him while he's asleep.</i> But Willem just shifted and stayed asleep. His hand curled around empty air where his textbook had been. Ollie sighed and put Willem’s book on the desk. He left it open to the same page facing upward.</p><p>Ollie needed to do his own homework. It had gotten late before he realized it, and he briefly thought about setting the alarm clock for early the next morning and trying to rush to get his work in before his first class at nine. However, that just wasn’t the kind of student he was. It wasn’t the kind of person he was, so he sat down at the desk and opened his notes from class. His head felt heavy and his eyes kept drifting closed. Hearing Willem’s breathing in the background helped him relax, and without realizing he fell asleep at his desk with his glasses still on.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Right now it says there will be 18 chapters, but that will probably change as I write and update my outline. This will also update whenever I can get my shit together, which can be one day or several months.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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